Little Red Riding Hood
by goddessrockgeek
Summary: Sookie takes Arlene's trick or treating and has a run in with "Dracula". AH/AU. All Fluff. One Shot.


**Tales of a Little Red Riding Hood**

**For Solookup**

**Rating: PGish but note there is mild cursery**

**Characters: Sookie, Eric, Bill, Arlene's Kids... mentions of others  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, everything belongs to Alan Ball, Charlaine Harris' SVM/TB universe, and the song and title are references to Little Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham and ****The Pharaohs.**

**Summary: Sookie takes Arlene's trick or treating and has a run in with "Dracula".  
**

**Author Notes: Okay this is totally fluffy, there's not much plot because it was a _request fic._ She wanted both book and show, so while it's a book character format, Godric was forumlated after the showverse. It was betaed by 3 different people who had 3 different ideas of what was right and wrong. So I have no idea who was right to be honest and whatever it is now, it is. With that said Izzzyy, Eric_Ilde_Rules, and Dracodew17 ****all tried their hand at teaching me English as a 2nd language.**

**This fic is not for anyone that is looking for fics that make you think, or want a full story, or are looking for vampire/human dynamic. It's AH/AU and it's not very in character either at least to me. I tried to follow their basic personalities and habits but that's about as far as it goes. It's just something very sweet and happy.  
**

0000000

_*howl*  
What's that I see walkin' in these woods?  
Why, it's Little Red Riding Hood.  
Hey there, Little Red Riding Hood,  
You sure are lookin' good,  
You're everything a big, bad wolf could want..._

She stood there in a little red dress with a red cape. Her blonde hair tied up by a single red bow. She was humming along to a tape deck she had placed into her basket filled with Halloween candy.

_Little Red Riding Hood,  
I don't think little big girls should  
Go walkin' in these spooky ol' woods alone._

She looked maybe 13-14, a bit younger than him but not by much. Though he was definitely not seen around school and she had no business walking out here by herself. So, he decided he would do the responsible thing and follow her.

_*howl*  
What big eyes you have,  
The kind of eyes that drive wolves mad.  
So just to see that you don't get chased,  
I think I ought to walk with you for a ways.  
What full lips you have,  
They're sure to lure someone bad.  
So until you get to Grandma's place,  
I think you ought to walk with me and be safe. _

"Hey, you shouldn't really be out here alone."

The girl jumped and turned her head towards him. She paused when she saw some kind of blond-haired god standing behind her.

He was tall, very tall, and probably about her age, maybe somewhat older. He spoke with an accent and he was dressed as Dracula.

"Hi," she said in a whisper, "I didn't see you there."

"Being alone out here at night is sort of dangerous," he answered simply.

"I was just walking to back to my grandmother's place," Sookie answered, "What about you?"

"Just got back from a party; sort of lame, it was supposed to be a high school party but it was more like little kids pretending to be high schoolers."

Sookie laughed, "I'm Sookie, what's your name?"

"Eric Nordlund, but people around here call me Eric Northman."

"Why?"

"Easier to say, and sounds sort of similar. They don't mean the same thing though," he replied.

"Where you from?"

"Östermalm; it's in Stockholm."

Sookie smiled and squeezed his hand, "Wanna navigate through the woods to grandma's house?"

"Sure, I'll protect you from the big bad wolf."

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(12 years later)

Lights go off? Check.

Vampire bats go up? Check.

Spider webs go up? Check.

Candy on the front door stoop? Check.

Side door locked? Check.

Kitchen lights off? Check

Black Candles on the walkway? Check.

Graveyard fog machine on? Check.

Costume? Sookie looked in the mirror and adjusted the veil on her hat. Check.

The door bell rang, and Sookie walked over, knowing it was Arlene with her kids. She had volunteered to take them out so Arlene could waitress the Halloween party crowd at Merlotte's, the bar she worked at.

"Trick or Treat?" they cried as she opened the door.

Sookie smiled. Standing there in a mummy costume was Lisa, and standing there in a trench coat was Coby.

"Hey Coby what are you supposed to be?"

"I'm Edward Cullen."

Sookie looked at Arlene strangely.

"He refused to be a real vampire," she replied rolling her eyes.

Sookie shrugged, vampires weren't real anyway, so if he wanted to be one that sparkled…

"Well guys, come on in. We'll leave in about thirty minutes. Jason is gonna give out the candy for me on the front stoop."

Arlene gave her thanks once more before excusing herself. The kids just stood there looking at Sookie.

"What are you supposed to be?" Lisa asked finally.

"Oh I'm Mina," she replied.

"Mina?"

Sookie shrugged, she knew the kids wouldn't know who Dracula's pet vampire girlfriend was. Especially because it really just required wearing an old fashioned dress and she was done.

"Don't worry about it, come on. Let's go get some candy."

Sookie remembered the last time she trick or treated, she was 14 years old, and now that she was 26, she longed for those days. Besides, thanks to that last year's trip, she had met her Dracula.

"Trick or Treat!"

They were making their way through the local houses of Bon Temps. She noticed Jane Bodehouse's was egged again. When she was a kid she knew it was Hoyt and Jason- now that they were older, she was curious who took the tradition from them.

They finished at her house, and started towards the forest to cut through to get to where her grandmother's house used to be.

Recently, her friend, Amelia, had bought the place with her boyfriend.

Sookie smiled, "Kids, this way."

"Through the woods?" Lisa asked curiously.

She nodded, "Takes us to Gran's place. Amelia will have candy waiting."

They went into the woods, and Sookie pulled out her worn old tape cassette player and hit play, 'Li'l Red Riding Hood' came on.

"What'cha listening to Sookie?" Coby asked.

"My favorite Halloween song when I was a kid," she replied simply.

The walk seemed to go quietly after that, but halfway through the woods, they heard a loud cracking noise. Someone was walking on the sticks behind them.

Lisa and Coby turned around and started screaming.

"AHHH, IT'S A VAMPIRE!" they screamed, both taking off.

Sookie turned around and coming from behind was her Dracula. Sookie laughed.

She knew Eric wouldn't be able to resist, that was why she chose to dress this way after all.

"Hey guys, don't worry, it's just Eric…"

Sookie noticed they had run off. She started frantically looking around, trying to figure out what way they ran. She wasn't going to panic yet; they couldn't have gotten that far, but it would be a ton of help if she had been paying attention to the path they had followed.

Eric amusingly put his arm around her, "Kids are so easy to scare these days."

"ERIC, they RAN OFF. This is NOT funny. You have to help me find them!"

Eric's expression turned somber when he realized they had indeed run off. He let Sookie go, and he took off his Dracula cape, shoving it into Sookie's grip. He then started running through the forest like a madman.

"LISA! COBY!" he shouted running.

Sookie tried to follow but she had two baskets of Halloween candy, the extra pounds she'd gained since she'd last ran, and Eric's extra costume as baggage. Not to mention, Eric was a fantastic runner.

She was thoroughly impressed though at how quick he reacted when it hit him that they ran off. She admitted she was still trying to be level headed and decide the next course of action. But Eric, he just reacted.

Sookie slowly made her way through the forest, "ERIC?! COBY? LISA?"

"WE'RE OVER HERE," Eric shouted finally after she gotten closer to the end of the woods.

She noticed they had managed to run into the graveyard where her Gran was buried and the one that connected Amelia's and Bill's place.

When she got there, she found Eric catching his breath on one of the graves. His Dracula make up had been brushed away and now there was just some remaining paint left smudge around. He was just in the black pants, and top coat with the white bow and his slicked back hair was now hanging loose.

He simply looked beat, while Coby and Lisa looked like they had just played in gym. Coby was smiling in amusement at how tired Eric looked.

"They run pretty fast," he muttered by way of explanation, he was still trying to catch his breath slightly and the pink on his cheek showed just how flustered he was.

Sookie laughed, "You guys wore out Eric."

The kids laughed in returned.

"We're sorry Eric," Coby replied.

Eric shrugged, "It's good practice for me. I'll be chasing your cousin one of these days soon."

Sookie nodded rubbing her stomach. Just three more months and their alone time was over.

"Thank god we're having a girl," he whispered in her ear, "That boy runs too damn fast for his own good."

She let out a more playful laugh that time, poking him as she did so, "Come on Daddy, we should take them to Bill's house while we're here."

Eric rolled his eyes , Sookie's ex-boyfriend from high school. It was mere days after he had met her that night that he found out her brother was jock asshole and fellow classmate, Jason Stackhouse. The same jock he had beaten up for trying to harass his sister, Pam. They had moved to Bon Temps as Exchange students for the year and Jason had taking a liking to his sister. Because of their age difference, Eric refused to pursue her. Until she started dating his rival, Bill. That changed everything.

Eric and Bill had a showdown one day and gotten themselves suspended. He suspected Sookie would be furious. She was. But after she slapped him she told him that she dumped Bill and that she wanted to be with him.

Eric and Pam had been staying with his old childhood playmate, Godric, whose family had immigrated to the states when they were kids. Godric had been eager to house his best friend, Pam would go back but Eric never did thanks to him. Once he had met Sookie he refused. He would remain with Godric's family until graduation and then got an apartment with her in New Orleans where they attended university.

After Sookie's graduation they moved back to Bon Temps to help tend to her grandmother, who passed months later. Eventually Pam returned, and the four of them would open a night club in Shreveport, which was closer to where they lived. Godric bartended and sometimes bounced, Pam ran the door and babysat in his stead, Sookie managed the employees and the shipments, and Eric ran the business.

They were a make shift family and now they were adding to their small little clan. Not only that, Godric had started dating a friend of Sookie's named Lafayette who worked at Merlotte's. And Pam had recently started feeling out dates in the local area. Sookie seemed to think that Pam and this new girl Sophie-Anne were getting serious.

Bill answered the door, and Eric tried to appear to be pleasant, but it was difficult. He still had hard feelings from last year when, at the Christmas party, Bill had tried to feel Sookie up.

"Trick or Treat?"

Bill smiled at them avoiding the gaze of Eric. He reached into a basket on the side and gave the kids some candy.

"Hey Sookie!... Northman."

"Bill," she said with a forced slightly fake looking smile.

"Compton," Eric remarked rolling his eyes. He never could stand that name the Americans at his school had given him.

Bill noticed the bulge Sookie had, "Sookie! You're pregnant!"

Sookie nodded.

"When you due?"

"Just after the New Year," she replied lacing her fingers around Eric, "We're having a girl."

"That's great," Bill answered with a hint of insincerity in his voice.

Eric knew what the insincerity was about and wasn't that she was pregnant, it was who the father was.

"Well thanks for this moment of pure tension. We're going now before I forget to avoid hitting you," he interjected frostily.

The kids looked at Eric with surprise; they weren't used to his more possessive nature.

"Eric!" she hissed as they walked down the path and headed towards Amelia's place.

"I was going to re-arrange his face if we stayed any longer," he told her calmly, "You didn't let me get that shot in last year."

"He was drunk," Sookie countered, "Besides if you had, it would have only been to feed your ego, it wouldn't have really been for me. I slapped him already."

"I don't care."

They walked over to Amelia's after that, who then volunteered to bring them to Merlotte's.

"You guys should just go ahead."

"Really, you're sure?"

"Yea, get lost."

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If her insides could melt, right now they would be totally a puddle of mud.

Eric was using Sookie's body as a kissing canvas.

Lips

Throat

Shoulder Blades (left and then right)

Breasts (kiss then lick)

Stomach

Thighs

Tease

Thighs, again

Feet

He would then pull back and repeat. For an hour.

After, they laid there sharing their experiences of past Halloweens.

"This isn't the worst costume idea I had if you remember. It was the year I tried to be Claudia from Interview with the Vampire," Sookie said laughing.

"Oh god that was a disaster. I felt dirty whenever I thought of removing your clothes. Ill-convinced idea at best," he replied shaking his head.

"Well there are only so many things that match Dracula and you refuse to get creative."

"I don't plan to retire my fangs anytime soon."

Sookie shook her head. Eric and his love of Dracula, sometimes she really believed he was a true vampire in disguise.

"I'll make a deal with you," he said suddenly.

"Oh yeah? What?"

"I'll retire Dracula if you agree to marry me," Eric answered, stroking her arm as he talked.

He had the ring already, it was in his bathroom mirror but he had been waiting for the right moment and this seemed the best possible solution. Though the "right moment" for her to say 'yes' had been seemingly dismissed by Sookie for the last three years, repeatedly.

Sookie sat up suddenly, "Eric, I thought I said I didn't want you marrying me just because I was pregnant."

"It's not because you're pregnant. I've been trying to ask you for the last year and every time you've had a reason to say no. So this is my proposal, I'll stop our silly traditions if you stop finding ridiculous reasons to say no," he answered shortly.

"They aren't ridiculous," she argued.

Eric snorted, "Let's see first it was 'what about Gran and her needs?' she was dying, I let it go. The second time it was because you thought I was trapping you into a commitment you weren't ready for after we had already moved in together. For someone who claims to be such a moral compass, Miss Stackhouse, the amount of times you have turned me down after we made much more serious commitments amazes me. I love you and I wanted you to be mine since I walked you home that first Halloween. How much longer am I going to have to wait until you believe I want this?"

Sookie paused at this anger, maybe he was right. She had selfishly wanted to remain unattached to care for her grandmother without feeling like she owed someone else her time. Then, she moved in with him because she was afraid he would leave her.

And yet, never once did he ever try to. Then, it became an excuse. She had sex with him because it wasn't like they were going running to a chapel, this wasn't 1950 after all. Good Christian or not the idea of them innocent (especially Eric) was laughable at best.

So, she got pregnant, and then she argued he only wanted her to marry him for the baby. Funny, not once did he ever actually say it was because she got pregnant.

"You know what? Forget I said anything. Dracula could have Mina, he could twist her to bend to his wills with a smile and a bite. Yet, I cannot get you to see what is right in front of you," he said his voice leaking with frustration.

He moved to get up and Sookie quickly grabbed his hand, "Wait, where are you going?"

Silent tears were starting to form at the corner of her eyes, the inner paranoia in her head warning her that she was on dangerous ground.

"Call Pam, see how many people came to the party tonight. I want to know how much money we made," Eric answered, devoid of any feeling.

"You aren't leaving?"

Eric sighed and kneeled down in front of the bed, "Lover, have I ever left after any fight?"

Sookie shook her head, no that was more her than him. Eric would storm around screaming and yelling- and sometimes committing acts of violence where it was warranted to other people but he tended to stay put. Sookie was usually the one that stormed off.

"Besides I did start it anyway. I was lost in the moment, my Mina."

Sookie laced her hand around his, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to throw it back in your face. You just- it came out of nowhere. I didn't know what else to think it could possibly be about."

"No, it didn't. Not really. Not when I asked you not even six months ago. It was our anniversary after all."

Sookie nodded, boy did she know, and she knew she really messed this up.

"Eric…" she said slowly.

"Yes?" he asked quietly almost like he had been scolded.

"Would you consider maybe asking me again?"

That got his attention; he had gone from barely there to attentive in less than a second. His eyes glazed over in some kind of hope that should have been lost on someone else, but Eric was never much of one to back down. Especially when it was hinted by Sookie that he was about to get his way.

"Are you sure? Sookie, I tolerate a lot but…"

"I won't get it wrong this time."

Eric laughed, "You always worry you are not a quick learner. Funny, you got the right answer in under…" he quickly glanced at their clock, "Twenty minutes."

Sookie smiled.

He freed his hand and walked into the bathroom opening his cabinet and pulling out the black bag.

"No box?" she teased.

"I didn't buy it in a store," he replied.

Sookie looked at him curiously.

Eric wiped off his face, and took off his cape. He returned to position kneeling in front of the bed she laid on.

"The first time I asked you, I knew I was wrong. Not you. I wanted something you could not give me. I was just being the possessive bastard that I am. After that disaster, I returned the ring I had bought. I realized my second error that day. You hate when I buy you anything lavish and that ring would have offended you," Eric informed her calmly.

He took the ring out of the small bag.

Sookie gasped in shock. In front of her was her grandmother's ring.

"I made sure to get the right ring before going about it again. Thankfully, the very sick and very kind woman I appealed to agreed to give it to me before she passed on."

If there had been any hope of her remaining cool, calm, and collected it was now gone. She was about to be a blubbering mess and it was thanks to the very rational (not so romantic) proposal she was getting from Eric.

"With that said, Miss Stackhouse. I'm sorry to inform you that I have no intention of declaring of my undying love for you. It should be a given that you were mine from the second I laid eyes on you, and I was your slave the first time you asked me to walk you home. I celebrate this day every year by recreating the very costume and the very thing I did that night when I met you. I meet you in the woods, I walk you home, and I protect you from the big bad wolf. This time I would like to celebrate this in a different manner. I would like you to marry me this time next year, no more Dracula, no more Little Red Riding Hoods, no more Mina's, no more Buffy's, and no more Claudia's. Will you agree to yield to this request and be my wife next Halloween?"

Now she was crying, but she took no time to shake her head in agreement and launch herself at his giant frame.

Her costume might have been the worst one yet, but this was by far the best Halloween she'd ever had.

-----

**Finis.**


End file.
